Stop asking God for vague help.
“But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’"
- Luke 14:28-30 (New Living Translation)
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A few months ago, God led me to write down everything I desired in order to run my business over the next year at the level I envision, including the costs. So of course I was like aw shoot, God 'bout to send me some coin yasss lol!! When I sat down to get started though, at first I just dumped everything in my brain that I ever wanted for the business, but it all just felt so random; I wasn't really connecting with why each tool or team member would be beneficial or when I'd really need them. That's when God drew my attention to the fact that, up to that point, I had set a big scary one-year goal but hadn't actually built the strategy for accomplishing it yet. And without a plan for what I'd actually do in pursuit of that goal, it was impossible for me to identify the support I needed to accomplish it.
How you gon' expect God to support you when you don't even know what support to ask Him for?
Counting up the cost of what it would actually take to hit your big goal is a faith move I believe so many of us are neglecting. God wants to get help to us but we're either too busy going after goals blindly with no plan, or worse, not going for them at all because we assume they're just too impossible. Either way, we're doing ourselves a disservice when we neglect to identify the investment required to make our dreams a reality.
I know it can be scary to plan toward a big goal. Heck, you might not even be scared, you might just feel like you don't have the time. Planning, budgets & spreadsheets take WORK work! But, as Jesus shares in the context of this week's scripture, you gotta do it before you can fully commit. You gotta know what you're getting yourself into AND you gotta know what help you need. Now that I know, down to the penny, what I need to run my business at its next level, I feel like I'm in position to ask God for the specific support I need and see Him do something miraculous. If you can't say that yet, I challenge you to do this work and get in position with me.
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Still hungry? Eat some more //
- Luke 14:31-32 & Proverbs 15:22→ The rest of this week's passage + this scripture in Proverbs encourage us to not just count up the costs on our own, but also to seek counsel. Don't make your plans in a silo.